kleinemvskleinesWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“kleinem” and “kleines” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#13,411
“kleinem” frequency rank
#1,300
“kleines” frequency rank
14711
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature kleinem kleines
Definition Dativ Singular Maskulinum Positiv der starken Flexion des Adjektivs klein Nominativ Singular Neutrum Positiv der starken Flexion des Adjektivs klein

Where the eye mixes kleinem and kleines

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. kleinem and kleines follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCVVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

7 ch
kleinem
7 ch
kleines

Why the eye confuses kleinem with kleines

A purely visual mix-up. kleinem ([ˈklaɪ̯nəm]) and kleines ([ˈklaɪ̯nəs]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by a single letter - m in “kleinem” becomes s in “kleines”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 14711, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

kleinem is recorded at frequency rank #13,411, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈklaɪ̯nəm]. kleines is at rank #1,300, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈklaɪ̯nəs].

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 14711, this pair ranks #1,949,284 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of kleinem vs kleines

Shared letters: eikln. Private to "kleinem": m. Private to "kleines": s.

"kleinem" · 7 letters · shape CCVVCVC  ·  "kleines" · 7 letters · shape CCVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • kleinemkelinem · kkleinem · kleienm · kleinemm · kleinme · kleinnem · kleniem · klienem
  • kleineskelines · kkleines · kleiens · kleiness · kleinnes · kleinse · klenies · klienes

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "kleinem" and "kleines" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈklaɪ̯nəm] versus [ˈklaɪ̯nəs]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "kleinem" or "kleines"?
"kleines" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,300 in our German list, against #13,411 for "kleinem". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "kleinem" and "kleines" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "kleinem" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "kleines" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,949,284 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "kleinem" and "kleines" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "kleinem vs kleinerem". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #1,949,284 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list